Chapter 2: A meeting with a red ghost

Observing the desert landscape before him brought back memories to Banagher Links of his trek to the desert with Captain Suboera Zimmerman. Despite the fact that Banagher was in the RX-0 Unicorn Gundam, he still felt the same feelings that he had when he had walked through the desert. To add to his worries, Banagher was frantically searching for a companion of his.

As he used his newtype powers as well as the Unicorn's sensors to scan the area in front of him with little success, Banagher quietly cursed before remarking quietly, "Where the heck am I?" Turning his suit to head to another area, he silently asked an even more important question, "Where is she?" Pausing for a moment as he closed his eyes, Banagher said a silent prayer and a promise to his missing companion that he would find her as soon as possible.

Suddenly, the Unicorn Gundam's sensors went off to which Banagher immediately by activating the Gundam's thrusters to avoid a hail of fire coming in his direction. Turning to see several AMS-119 Geara Dogas heading towards him with weapons drawn, Banagher activated the Unicorn Gundam's weapons as he jumped into the fray.

Although the Geara Dogas moved fast with their long-range weapons, Banagher was much faster. Flying though the foes amassed against him, Banagher let loose a barrage of beam machine gun fire from the gatling guns attached to the shield in his left arm. Breaking through the first wave of enemies, Banagher immediately turned with his magnum drawn. Looking at the Geara Dogas, Banagher remarked quietly to whoever was piloting them, "I don't have time for this" before he fired several blasts of the beam magnum in rapid succession. While the energy blasts did not destroy the Neo Zeon MS outright, the radius of the energy blasts managed to hurt some of them while forcing the rest to scatter.

Satisfied with dealing with the opposition behind him, Banagher turned to see several more squads of Geara Dogas heading his way with their own weapons drawn. Banagher remarked loudly, "Where the heck are they coming from" as he dodged several bursts of beam machine gunfire. Deactivating his beam magnum, Banagher activated his beam saber and began cutting his way through his foes while firing several bursts at targets that were some distance off.

Unknown to Banagher, several others were nearby and were busy observing the performance of the Gundam along with Banagher. One was a green-haired man dressed in clothes that were all white. To those that would not have known better, he did look like a girl at times. However, the eyes of the man held a dangerous glint that put those that did not know him well on their guard.

The other two with them were a blond-haired man and a light brown-haired woman. Though both were dressed with more formal wear (with the blond-haired man's clothes were all red) it was normal in comparison to their ally.

As the three watched the Unicorn Gundam fight its way through several Geara Dogas, the woman commented to the two others, "It's definitely a suit from our time. Its capabilities are similar to our suits though no doubt a bit more advanced."

The blond-haired man also added, "I have to agree with that assessment. Also the pilot using that suit is using his capabilities well." Turning to the light brown haired woman, the blond haired man asked, "Do you have any data on the suit?"

The woman shook her head, "Negative, the database has not figured out a match and the suit's systems have rejected every attempt by us to find out more."

Shrugging at the news, the blond haired-man said, "The pilot has definitely taken precautions. In actually that is somewhat smart considering the circumstances." Watching as the Unicorn sliced a Geara Doga squad leader in half with his beam sabers, the blond haired man admitted to the others, "Looks like we'll have to find out the hard way." The woman nodded and the blond-haired man turned to the other man in their little group, "Aren't you coming along."

The green-haired man shrugged before saying back in a bored tone, "Sure. I guess I could use some more experience in fighting against mobile suits that are from your timeline." Jumping up from his seat, the enigmatic man began to walk out into the hallway while the blond-haired man shivered for while they were from completely different timelines, their new ally had the same exact voice as the blond-haired man's great nemesis.

Back on the battlefield, the Unicorn Gundam had been busy smashing its way through several different roadblocks of foes. Although the Unicorn Gundam had easily dispatched most foes, a few did prove a bit though. Fortunately, Banagher managed to handle them well enough without having to activate the Unicorn Gundam's special ability.

Slashing another Geara Doga in half, Banagher immediately opened up the distance as he immediately activated a screen that displayed his surroundings, "There has to be a way to slow them down." Although the Unicorn Gundam was still operating at peak efficiency, Banagher knew that he needed to find a place to rest and catch his breath. Suddenly his scanners picked up a communications installation that seemed to be a good place to head to in the present circumstances. Activating his Gundam's boosters, Banagher accelerated the suit forward.

Not surprisingly, several Geara Dogas immediately set upon him with most firing their beam rifles while an enterprising few attempted to take the Unicorn Gundam at close quarters. Those that did paid for it as Banagher blasted them with the beam magnum, the energy blast killing a few while scattering the rest. Refocusing himself, Banagher pushed on while exchanging fire with his more numerous foes.

Fortunately, it did not take long for Banagher to break through and he was soon in the communications complex. The Geara Dogas, perhaps having had enough, had shortly withdrawn which left Banagher alone in the immediately area. Inspecting the building itself, Banagher remarked quietly, "This is nothing like what I've seen before." He was considering going down to inspect in person when the Unicorn Gundam's sensors and more importantly his Newtype powers picked up enemy suits in the vicinity. Turning his suit around as a hail of weapons fire slammed into his immediate area, Banagher had an enormous shock at the new arrivals.

Flying into the attack, the Geara Dogas used a variety of weapons to bombard the area around Banagher and keep him off balance. Two advanced suits lead the large force into combat against him. The first one was a Gundam that had an overall red and white coloring along with a design that clearly was different from all of the other mobile suits Banagher had seen. However, the other suit was an enormous shock for Banagher as it looked almost like the Sinanju although a bit older.

Maneuvering to gain some breathing room from the hail of fire thrown his way, Banagher eyed his two main foes warily. As he looked at the red mobile suit, Banagher asked himself quietly, "Is that Full Frontal?" Suddenly as if sensing his hesitation, the red mobile suit charged at him while firing its large beam rifle. Rapidly firing his beam magnum, Banagher opened up the distance before he switched weapons. However before he could move onto the attack, the red mobile suit unleashed an energy blast from its waist. Getting clear of the blast radius, Banagher retaliated with a barrage of fire from his beam machine guns as well as the Unicorn Gundam's head machine guns.

Although the fire was not strong enough to heavily damage the red mobile suit, it brought up its shield to provide an additional layer of protection. Closing in on the white Gundam, the red mobile suit tossed away his beam shot rifle and activated his beam tomahawk. With a speed that belied its size, the red mobile suit slammed its full weight onto the Gundam, sending it stumbling backwards. The Sazabi immediately followed the Gundam as it raised its beam tomahawk for a strike.

Immediately dodging, Banagher immediately activated his beam saber before moving onto the attack. The two mobile suits exchanged a round of blows that seemed for a moment to result in a stalemate. However as the fight continued on, the red mobile suit seemed to gain the upper hand. Banagher shook his head for a moment as he observed the fighting style of his foe. Although it seemed that he was indeed facing Full Frontal, the fighting style did not seem to match completely the capabilities of the Sinanju. Shaking his head for a moment to refocus, Banagher moved onto the attack again.

Watching as the Unicorn rapidly closed the distance, the red mobile suit opened up the distance while unleashing its funnels. Firing an energy blast from the mega-particle cannon in its waist, the red mobile suit managed to halt the Unicorn's advance before its funnels moved in on the attack. With the Unicorn Gundam distracted by the funnels, the red mobile suit moved onto the attack and soon gained the initiative in the fight.

As he observed the white mobile suit's performance, the pilot of the red mobile suit thought quietly, "One thing I can say is that he does know how to use his machine." As the suits engaged in blade lock, the pilot narrowed his eyes for a moment before remarking quietly, "He definitely shows signs of being a newtype as well." Breaking off and opening up the distance, the red mobile suit's pilot said to no one in particular as he moved onto the attack, "Time to finish this."

Blocking several slashes before engaging his foe in another blade lock, Banagher winced as he felt the intent of the red mobile suit's pilot. Cursing quietly as he felt his own suit start to shake from under the strain, Banagher realized that he had no choice. Closing his eyes for a moment, the Unicorn Gundam's pilot opened his eyes as he felt his body truly become one with the mobile suit.

To the pilots of the red mobile suit and the futuristic Gundam, the sight of the white mobile suit transforming took them by surprise. Both suits moved back as the armor around the Unicorn Gundam began to part, revealing an inner frame that seemed to glow red.

Shielding his eyes from the glare of the light, the pilot of the red mobile suit opened his communications link, "Nanai, are you seeing what I'm seeing here?"

On the other end of the line, the light-brown haired operations officer of Neo Zeon nodded in agreement, "I'm seeing the exact same thing you are." Pausing for a moment to check one of the nearby computer monitors, Nanai said, "According to these readings, the pilot's newtype brainwaves have jumped. They're nearly on the level some of the other pilots that we've tested on before sending them into combat. I'd advise taking precautions immediately."

The blond haired pilot nodded, "Understood." Suddenly his newtype senses flared up and he turned to see the Unicorn heading towards him in its Destroy mode with beam tonfas drawn. Blocking several rapid blows of the beam sabers from his foe, the blond haired man smirked quietly, "I shouldn't be surprised that my foe is a Gundam." Opening up the distance, the red mobile suit unleashed a barrage of all six of his funnels as well as blasts from its waist mega-particle cannon.

Although the barrage slowed the Unicorn Gundam's advance, it pressed on and actually took out two of the red funnels. Suddenly before its red foe could react, the Gundam accelerated at rapid speed with both of its beam tonfas drawn upward in a killing strike. The red mobile suit drew its beam tomahawk up in a defensive stance to block the attack while attempting to retaliate with a beam saber, which activated in its left hand. The two mobile suits engaged in bladelock for several moments before parting from each other as they each considered their options.

Eying his foe carefully, the blond haired man knew that he needed to finish the fight now. Turning the suit's head to the Geara Dogas, he signaled them by blinker light before resuming his fight with the Unicorn. Exchanging blows, the pilot was impressed that the white mobile suit managed to hold its ground despite taking fire from all sides. However, he sensed victory was at hand and as he resumed his attack, the red mobile suit thought loudly about the pilot, "You may be good with your suit but I can assure you that you still need improvement in your skills."

Indeed, he was right for the Unicorn Gundam fell under attack from all sides. Although it fought back well, it could not deal with the bombardment of the Geara Dogas and the attacks by the red Sinanju-like mobile suit at the same time. Steadying himself after the combine attacks, Banagher desperately searched for a way out. Several explosions shook his suit and Banagher cursed quietly as he took out his immediate foes. Eying his situation, he thought quietly, "I have to end this fight soon." Turning to the red mobile suit, Banagher sensed that taking him out would give him a path to escape. Pushing his engines to full power, Banagher accelerated the Unicorn Gundam to full speed, smashing everything in his path. Soon both of the advanced mobile suits clashed again with their beam sabers. At first, it was a stalemate but Banagher pushed on, attempting to gain the initiative in the fight.

Sensing that the white mobile suit was starting to weaken due to the desperate attacks it threw, the red mobile suit seized his advantage as the remaining funnels attacked from behind, forcing the Unicorn Gundam to turn to deal with them. Taking advantage, the red mobile suit slammed its entire weight onto the Unicorn Gundam before following it up with several rapid strikes of its beam sabers.

The results were entirely predictable as the Unicorn suffered several deep slashes onto its armor. In addition, the Unicorn Gundam its rifle severely damaged and it was already nearly out of ammunition. Finally, the combination of the long-term firefight and the energy it used up from the Gundam meant that the Unicorn Gundam could not maintain its Destroy mode and it immediately reverted to its normal mode.

Shaking his head after the terrific pounding, Banagher opened his eyes to see sparks flying around in his cockpit from damaged consoles. His weapons had suffered heavy damage, run out of ammunition or had run out of power. Parts of the 360-degree panoramic cockpit monitor were out and finally as he turned to face the front, he found the red Sinanju-like mobile suit in front of him with its beam rifle aimed at the Unicorn's cockpit. Several other Geara Dogas soon joined with their own beam rifles aimed at him while the strange Gundam flew overhead, its beam rifle locked onto the Unicorn Gundam. It took a moment before he noticed that his intercom started beeping. Switching it on, Banagher found to his shock to hear the voice of the pilot from the red mobile suit.

"To the pilot of the mobile suit. You fought well but you have nowhere else to go. I would advise that you surrender immediately. I await your decision."

Scanning his surroundings, Banagher knew that his foe was right. Quietly letting out a harsh breath, Banagher spoke on the intercom, "Alright I accept. I warn you though that the suit has security measures in place to prevent tampering by anyone else except me."

The pilot in the red mobile suit smirked at that before stating, "We shall see. For now, follow us. It seems that you're in the same predicament that we are." With that, the red mobile suit took to the air with the red and white Gundam joining it. The Unicorn followed on behind, covered all the while by accompanying squads of Geara Dogas.

A short time later, the assembled host of mobile suits arrived at an industrial complex. Watching from his cockpit, Banagher saw groups of mobile suits with some being very unfamiliar to him. Scurrying on the ground, technicians and pilots exampled the mobile suits and vehicles to gain a feel for their capabilities. Once they landed, several guards wearing the uniform of Neo Zeon ordered Banagher out of the Unicorn Gundam and escorted him to a small sparse grey interrogation room.

Awaiting his arrival were the pilots of the two mobile suits that lead the Geara Dogas along with the honey-blond haired woman. Banagher's first shock came from the sight of the strange green-haired man who wore white clothing that seemed to be out of place. So focused on the sight of the strange man, the blond haired man in the room took Banagher by surprise when he spoke, "So you're the pilot."

Taking the time to eye his interrogator, Banagher was in for a greater shock at the man in front of him. Dressed fully in a red uniform, the man was almost a perfect clone of Full Frontal except for the fact that his hair was far shorter and he seemed to carry himself with a different bearing than Full Frontal. The blond-haired man smirked for a moment before remarking evenly, "I admit, I want to be surprised but I'm not. Young men seem to have a way of finding themselves in Federation mobile suits."

Shaking himself out of his shock, Banagher eyed the man's face as if trying to get a reading on his intentions before asking, "Were you…the pilot of that red mobile suit?"

The mobile suit piloted answered crisply, "And what if I was."

Banagher quickly followed up, "And you're forces are Neo Zeon right?"

The blond-haired man nodded before answering, "They are."

A shiver went down Banagher's spine as he came to an inescapable conclusion, "Then you must be…Char Aznable, the Red Comet."

Smirking a bit although his face showed a tint of annoyance that the thought that the kid in front of him could be expecting someone else, Char simply stated, "In the flesh."

Banagher was still in a state of shock as the person he had just fought was none other than Char Aznable for as far as he knew, Char was MIA for the last three years with the common assumption of him being dead."

Silence descended on the room for a moment before the green-haired man laughed had what had transpired, "I see what you meant earlier Char when you described your situation. Ha. You're famous. He's a little star struck."

Char shrugged at that thought before he said back, "I see. Given the circumstances, just meeting someone who knows me is a sign of progress."

Banagher immediately seized on that statement, "What do you mean by that. Do you know what is going on here?"

Smirking, the green-haired boy immediately said to the confused Unicorn Gundam's pilot, "Allow me to explain, you don't mind. Don't you?"

The woman who was with Char immediately leaned close and whispered quietly, "Captain…is that wise?"

Char shrugged his shoulders before whispering back, "From what I can tell, the boy here is in the same situation we found ourselves in. Any information that can help us figure out our present situation is worth following up."

Ribbons nodded at that before turning to the pilot of the Unicorn Gundam and explaining the situation they all found themselves, "After the information we provided you, I hope that you will be cooperate with us Banagher Links."

Char quickly added, "The man here has a point Banagher. It would perhaps be better if we're working together instead of going off on separate paths. At least it will increase our chances of survival on this new world."

Concluding that he had no choice, Banagher let out a sigh before saying quietly to his captors, "Very well. I'll stay."

The green-haired man let out a small laugh while he said to Banagher, "Hah, not bad." Turning to Char and the woman who was with him, "I'll go see if I can dig up some more information from the computers in this factory complex." With that, the green-haired boy walked lazily out of the room with three pairs of eyes watching him warily.

Banagher was the one who spoke first, "Who is that man?"

Char answered quietly back to the Gundam pilot, "He calls himself Ribbons Almark and that's about all I've gotten out of him. He was the first one that we encountered when we arrived in this world." Becoming even quieter, Char advised Banagher, "If I were you, I'd be more concerned about him." Straightening himself, Char then spoke in a stern manner, "Get some rest, I'll have Nanai here brief you a bit more on our present situation." With that, the red comet strolled out of the room with Nanai following on behind.

Banagher was the last one out of the room. Walking outside, Banagher looked at the darkening sky, his face deep in thought. Confused at what he had just heard and encountered, Banagher closed his eyes for a moment as he focused his thoughts. Clinching onto one particular concern, Banagher thought quietly to himself, "I wonder who or what else is on this planet. If she is here then…I hope that she is alright."

In a completely different location

A lone figure was quietly sneaking through the area as she attempted to ascertain her surroundings. The figure was a teenage girl with orange hair and green eyes that could pierce into a person's soul. From time to time, she paused as if she sensed that someone was following her. While naturally she wanted to avoid capture, the girl had hoped that she was so that she could find some answers, mainly what the place that she was now stuck in was. Another reason was that she was searching for a companion of hers.

Pausing for a moment, the girl attempted to catch her breath and clear her thoughts for a moment. Letting out a sigh, the girl thought quietly, "What is this place? More importantly did he make it through from our world to this new world?"

Suddenly, she felt a chill go up her spine and quickly turned to see a mobile suit approaching her. Even though she knew it was useless, the girl began to run. However, she fainted from exhaustion and collapsed onto the ground. As the mobile suit descended to the ground with its cockpit already open, the girl whispered quietly the name of her companion as she fell unconscious.

Meanwhile

Scanning warily the landscape around him, Full Frontal wondered for the umpteenth time where he was. The last thing that he remembered was his battle with Banagher Links and his associates before he found himself engulfed in white light. Next thing he knew, Full Frontal found himself back in the MSN-06s Sinanju and an odd landscape in front of him. Several times, he attempted to contact any friendly forces to no avail.

Suddenly his newtype senses began to flare and Full Frontal immediately accelerated the Sinanju as he flew towards the location where his senses directed him. As the objects began to emerge on his mobile suit's radar, Full Frontal activated his suit's main camera. Scrolling through the images, the man some considered the second coming of Char Aznable remarked quietly to himself, "Those are definitely not Neo Zeon."

Almost instantly the suit's sensors as well as his newtype senses picked up the arrival of bogeys heading his way. Weapons drawn, Full Frontal found himself confronted by a horde of mobile suits of an unfamiliar design. Leading them was a white and blue mobile suit of an unknown configuration. It already had a large gun aimed right at him.

For a few minutes, neither Full Frontal nor the mobile suits surrounding him reacted to each other. That changed the Sinanju's intercom began beeping. Activating it, Full Frontal found himself looking at a man dressed in clothing that could be fit for royalty. Skipping right to business, the man started the conversation, "Greetings, I am Treize Khushrenda of Oz. Perhaps you can explain what is happening here." Full Frontal wondered himself about that exact question.

Author's Notes:

I am mightily tempted to introduce the fact that Char and Banagher had met before (due to the events of the final episode of Gundam Unicorn.) I may do that somewhat down the line.

While Banagher is a skilled pilot, in this chapter, he is facing an unfamiliar foe in the form of Char Aznable himself. I may also be putting in other things to weaken both Banagher and the Unicorn to give the other pilots a chance to take him on (in light of what happened in episode 7 of the Gundam Unicorn OVA). In fact, it may be more of the novel version instead of the OVA version.

As I said before, I'm going off the Japanese voice actors. This accounts for Char being spooked a bit at times by Ribbons having the virtual same voice as Amuro Ray.